No man when he is tempted, is tempted of God. 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin: and i. 215 tude and benevolence of his nature, that he SECT. tempteth not any man; but on the contrary, abhors all sin, and lays no man, in any imagina- James ble circumstances, under any necessity of com- I. 13. mitting it: But every man is tempted by the 14 innate weakness of his own nature, in concurrence with the circumstance of life in which he is placed, being allured by his own lusts, and for want of wisely and resolutely opposing the first rising of them, being ensnared to the actual commission of sin: For the gradation is much 15 more swift and fatal than the generality of mankind are aware; and indeed lust having conceived brings forth, actual sin, by a speedy birth, where perhaps the full indulgence of it was not intended; and sin, when it is finished, or perpetrated', is impregnated with death, and tends in its consequences to the final ruin both of soul and body, as naturally as the conception of an animal does 16 Do not err, my to the birth. Therefore be not deceived, my 16 beloved brethren, by its flattering form, nor venture to trifle with temptations, under a fond conceit that you shall be able to break the connec tion, by stopping yourselves at pleasure in the advance of the danger, or recovering yourselves again when sin has been committed." sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death. beloved brethren. IMPROVEMENT. LET us learn this holy caution, and guard against those baits of Ver. lust under which death is concealed; remembering that God has 16 made us with a power of determining our own actions, that he 14, 15 tempts none to evil, nor appoints to any such temptations as he knows 13 to be in their own nature irresistible. Be our spiritual enemies ever so powerful, or ever so artful, they cannot do us any hurt, till we betray ourselves into their hands. Yet certain it is, that their arti. fice and their power, in conjunction with the advantage which the corruption of our own hearts gives them, make it requisite, that 5 conscious to ourselves of our deficiency in wisdom, we should ask h Being allured and ensnared : ığεxnoμevos smi dihiasqueros ] The original words have a singular beauty and elegance, containing an allusion to the method of drawing fishes out of the water with a hook, concealed under the bait, which they greedily devour. i Finished, or perpetrated: amoliλus. it Duoα.] The word is used in this sense k Therefore be not deceived.} This is 218 i. Reflections on the temptations of good men. SECT. it of God. Let the liberality with which he gives it, and the royal freedom with which he has promised it, encourage us to ask it Ver. with such constancy, that we may receive daily supplies; and 6, 7 with firm confidence in his goodness, that we may not waver, and be like a wave of the sea tossed with the wind. Trusting in that supply of grace we receive from him, let us go 2 forth calmly and chearfully to meet such trials as the infinite wisdom of God shall appoint for us, how various and pressing soever 3, 4 they may be ; remembering they tend to improve our patience, and by patience to perfect every other grace; and that if we be not overcome, we shall be approved, and made more meet to receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them that love him. 12 And O, that the love of this blessed Lord, who has procured as well as promised it, may always render us superior to every trial, and more than conquerors through him that hath loved us, and thereby bath acquired to himself so just a claim to our supreme affection. With hearts faithfully engaged to him, and established in the 9, 10 firmest resolutions for his service, let us look with indifference upon those worldly circumstances, about which they who have no sense of a higher interest are exceedingly solicitous; and let us regulate our value of all the good things of life, by a regard to their aspect upon our religious characters and hopes.-If low circumstances may improve these, let us look upon them as true exaltation; and if wealth, and dignity, and applause, may endanger these, let us rather fear them, than aspire to them. Whatever we have obtained of those things which the men of the world are most ready to covet and admire, is transitory and fading as the grass, or even as the flower of the field; and sometimes like those beautiful, but tender productions of vegetable nature, is consumed by the excess of those causes to which it owes its existence and its beauty, "Give us, O Lord, durable riches, and righteousness, and that honour which cometh from thee, and is immortal, as its great Original." SECT. Every good gift cometh from the Father of lights; 217 SECT. II. The Apostle exhorts them to remember and acknowledge the manifold goodness of God, in the various blessings bestowed upon them; more especially in that of his regenerating grace, which should constrain them to the exercise of every virtue; especially to an ingenuous and candid reception of his word, and a concern resolutely and constantly to adhere to its directions; particularly by bridling their tongues, and succouring such as were afflicted James I. 17. to the end. JAMES I. 17. EVERY good gift and JAMES I. 17. SEC1. ii. every perfect gift, THAT ye may be fortified against every tempis from above, and tation, and may be animated to behave in James cometh down from the a manner becoming your christian profession, 1. 17. whom is no variable- remember, that every good gift, and every perness, neither shadow of fect gift which the children of men can receive, turning. is from above; and the more compleatly excel- a Father of lights.] It is the opinion of Glassius that this phrase only expresses the majesty and glory of God, as if the apostle had said, The most illustrious and glorious Father. But the accurate Bos most justly imagines, that the allusion to the sun which there is in the following words, begins here; and that the phrase refers to the heathens calling that glorious luminary, the Father of light, and the author of light; some instances of which he produces. See Exercitat. Philolog. in loc. The learned Albert cites a passage from Macrobius, in which the same title is applied to Jupiter. Observ. Philolog. in loc. b Every good gift, &c.] It is observable that the apostle makes use of two different words to express gift; the one of which is more poetical and sounding than the other; and he has placed the words in such an order that they make an heroic verse. So that were they to be rendered, "Every good gift, and every boon complete," it might perhaps give the English reader a more exact idea of the original; but as there is all imaginable reason to believe this was quite an accidental thing, I thought it might have the appearance of affectation to have endeavoured to retain it. As neither boon nor present, would have been proper in this connection, I know not how to render doors and Supp by different words: such is the poverty of our language, or the defect of my acquaintance with it. But the words, a completely excellent benefit, are inserted in the paraphrase, to preserve some little imitation of the original. As some learned men have observed that porns añoσxingμa is something of an astronomical phrase, and refers to the different aspects of the sun, as it approaches one or the other tropic, (see Dr. Bates's Works, p. 747,) I have been careful to express that sentiment. It bath been the opinion of some persons that this is intended to oppose some heretical notion of the influence of the stars in the affairs of human life; but I know not that any such ridiculous conceit had so early a footing in the church. c Kind 218 ii. Who hath impregnated us with the word of truth. tures. 19 Wherefore, my SECT. the west, or to its summer height, but it verges towards the winter again; causing the direction of the shadows it occasions, proportionably to James 1. 18. vary. But the immutable and everlasting God 18 Of his own will has condescended to multiply those favours up- word of truth, that we begat he us with the on us, as Christians, which should bind our should be a kind of souls to him in the bonds of unchangeable love; first-fruits of his creafor of his own sovereign will he impregnated us with the powerful word of his Divine and evangelical truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures, more excellent than others, and in a peculiar manner separated and consecrated to him from among the rest of mankind. Let us be conscious of the honour he has hereby done us, and take heed that we do not sacrilegiously alienate ourselves from his 19 service. Therefore, my beloved brethren, that beloved brethren, let we may be thus religiously sacred to him, and every man be swift to ever employed to the purposes he has directed, hear, slow to speak, let every man be swift to hear the instructions of slow to wrath, his word, and all the good advices which may be given him agreeable to the tenor of it; but be slow to speak, guarding solicitously against every rash and especially every proud and dictatorial expression; and slow to wrath, not easily yielding to provocations, how injuriously 20 soever he may be treated; For the wrath of 20 For the wrath of man, even where it may be most ready to assume the title of religious zeal, worketh not, but on the contrary greatly obstructs the righteousness of God; instead of promoting the cause of true religion in the world, it is a reproach to it, and a means of exciting the pre21 judices of mankind against it. Endeavour there- 21 Wherefore lay fore to regulate your passions by these great max- apart all filthiness, and ims; and laying aside all inward, or outward superfluity of naughtifilthiness on the one hand, and all overflowing of malignity man worketh not the righteousness of God. ness, and receive with meekness but it is indeed so much the general infirmity of human nature, as unhappy experience teaches us, that the caution is of universal concern. e Worketh not the righteousness of God.] Some think the meaning is, simply, A man, who is often a prey to angry passions, is incapable of performing that obedience which God requires; but promoting the interest of the kingdom of God may be included in the meaning of working his righteousness; and this false zeal is so often defended under that notion, that I was willing in the paraphrase to point out that idea plainly. We should be doers of the word, and not hearers only: 219 meekness and ingraft- malignity on the other, compose yourselves with SECT. ed word, which is able all meekness and. gentleness of mind, to receive to save your souls. your ownselves. and not a doer, he is in a glass; 22 ii. the ingrafted word; that word, which when James implanted in your minds by the influence of 1. 21. Divine grace, is able to save your souls, and will effectually form them to a meetness for a happy 22 But be ye doers immortality. But then you must remember of the word, and not to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, hearers only, deceiving sophistically deceiving and imposing upon yourselves with an unprofitable attendance while 23 For if any be it has no inward efficacy upon your hearts. For 23 a hearer of the word, if any one be merely a hearer of the word, and like unto a man be- not a doer, he is like a man carelessly beholding holding his natural face his natural face in a mirror, or glass, who sees some accidental spot upon it, which it would be 24 For he behold- convenient to wipe off. For his looking into 24 eth himself, and goeth the glass, and taking notice of it for the prehis way, and straight- sent, will signify nothing if he beholds himself manner of man he was and goes away, and immediately forgets what manner of person he was; forgets what rendered him disagreeable, and required to be corrected, But he is the wise and happy man, who bends 25 down as it were his whole attention to this important matter, and is so set upon his own reformation and improvement, that he looketh into the gospel, that perfect law of liberty, by regarding which, the truest and noblest liberty is obtained, whatever confinement it may seem to lay us under he, I say, who not only takes a transient view of its contents and designs, but continues [therein,] deeply reflecting upon it, and charging his own soul with its important doctrines way forgetteth what 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, be being not a forgetful hea rer, but a doer of the be blessed in his deed. work, this man shall tion. f Ingrafted word: epubolov hoyov.] Some have translated this phrase, the natural, the innate, or internal word, referring to what hath been sometimes called, the light within; and it must be acknowledged that pulos hath frequently this significaBut the version here given is undeniably justified by Bos and Elsner in loc. who illustrates this whole clause by some apposite and elegant quotations from the classics. The word of God is frequently compared to seed, or to a plant; particularly 1 Pet. i. 23; 1 John iii. 9; in which sense it is here said to be rupulos, ingraft. ed, or implanted in their minds. g Hearers only, deceiving, &c.] The Jews did indeed place much of their religion in going up at proper times to the synagogue to hear the law read; and there VOL. X. |